While the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted millions of jobs and most businesses, many workers kept their jobs and their salaries—and some saw pay rise. Median pay changed by 5% or less either way at about a third of S&P 500 companies. It rose by more than 5% at 184 companies, and fell by more than 5% at…
The number of U.S. public companies labeled with auditor warnings about the ability to stay afloat declined overall during the 12 months ended May 31, but they rose in certain industries hard hit by the pandemic, such as transportation, construction and energy. These warnings, also called going-concern opinions, are published in the annual reports of…
The killing of George Floyd in police custody a year ago and the subsequent protests prompted pledges from U.S. business leaders: They would fight racism and work to recruit and promote Black and other minority employees. Now, more companies are putting money behind those pledges by tying executive compensation to specific goals. In January, Starbucks Corp. said it would give…
Median pay reached $13.4 million for chief executives of the biggest U.S. companies in 2020, setting a fifth straight annual record in a year when businesses and their leaders battled a global pandemic. Most S&P 500 CEOs got raises of about 5% or more as their companies recorded annual shareholder returns of about 8%, according to…
Discovery Inc. DISCB -1.47% gave Chief Executive David Zaslav 14.8 million stock options on Sunday, the day before the company and AT&T Inc. T -1.14% announced a plan to merge Discovery with AT&T’s WarnerMedia unit, according to a securities filing. The company valued the option grants at roughly $190 million on Wednesday evening, taking into account the company’s share-price volatility and potential stock appreciation over…
Some of the companies that are once again hosting their annual shareholder meetings virtually this year are hoping to improve the experience for investors, many of whom felt muted last year after the sudden shift to remote technology. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. and Dutch software and services company Wolters Kluwer NV are among the companies working to increase…
Kaycee Lai spent years in Silicon Valley trying to avoid calling attention to his ethnic identity. Early in his career, if he left work to get bubble tea, a Taiwanese drink, he’d tell his white colleagues he was getting coffee. When co-workers made comments about his race—such as suggesting that, as an Asian male, he…
Finance executives at America’s biggest companies received a collective 7% pay rise last year as many of them steered their firms’ finances through the pandemic, though not all saw their compensation increase. Chief financial officers at the largest 100 companies in the S&P 500 by market capitalization that disclosed executive pay through April 12 received…
CEO pay surged in 2020, a year of historic business upheaval, a wrenching labor market for many workers and unprecedented challenges for many leaders. Median pay for the chief executives of more than 300 of the biggest U.S. public companies reached $13.7 million last year, up from $12.8 million for the same companies a year earlier…
Move over, Elon Musk and Tim Cook. There is a new name breaking into the list of the highest-paid chief executives: Chad Richison, the founder and CEO of payroll processor Paycom Software Inc. The Oklahoma City billionaire last year was awarded compensation valued at $211 million by Paycom, the company disclosed in the annual proxy statement it filed…